Former Catholic school in Mattapan Square to be converted into senior apartments, adult daycare

The Zoning Board of Appeal on Tuesday approved plans by a company to lease a former Catholic school at 120-124 Babson St. for use as 14 affordable apartments for seniors with an adult daycare center on the ground floor.

The Archdiocese of Boston plans to lease the building, formerly home to St. Angela's School and a campus of the Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy, to Forever Young, LLC, of Brockton - which will run the adult daycare and will hire a management company to oversee the apartments.

The board unanimously approved the project, although member Jeanne Pinado initially expressed reservations because the applicants could not specify maximum incomes and rents for tenants, saying they were still negotiating possible financing with state officials - a detail she said developers normally try to lock down before they seek zoning-board approval.

Forever Young needed a variance because senior-citizen housing is forbidden under the lot's zoning.